by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Dec 6, 2018

Despite the restrictions imposed by the law and a socio-cultural context where it remains a taboo subject, abortion is common in Benin where many girls and women practice it in hiding, risking their lives.

Solange, 32, remembers it as if it were yesterday. Pregnant a little over a month while she lives an adventure “without promises” with a man, she does not wish to keep the pregnancy. Already the father of a daughter whom his mother helps him to raise, this man is not ready to take on a second paternity. He cannot afford it, either. Very soon, they come into contact with a young man who puts them in contact with the “doctor” of a private care practice located in Akpakpa, a district of Cotonou. Against 30,000 FCFA, about US$51, the “doctor” helps Solange get rid of the pregnancy. “I do not even know if he was a doctor or not. My only concern at the time was to end this pregnancy,” says Solange today, who has done rather well. “He gave me an injection before “scraping” inside. It did not hurt. We were in a very dimly lit room.”